One of the Principal External Factors That Can Affect Tourism and Is Highly Unpredictable for Organizations and Countries Is Crisis or Disaster. Using Examples, Discuss the Various Disasters That Have Characterized the Essay Example
INTRODUCTION
Disaster
A disaster is a serious disruption of the functioning of a community or a society causing widespread human, material, economic or environmental losses which exceed the ability of the affected community or society to cope using its own resources.
Hence it can be defined as a crisis situation causing wide spread damage which far exceeds our ability to recover. Thus, by definition, there cannot be a perfect ideal system that prevents damage, because then it would not be a disaster. It has to suffocate our ability to recover. Only then it can be called as disaster.
Disasters are mainly of 2 broad types,
1. Natural disasters; include climatic disasters e.g. hurricanes, floods & droughts; and geological disasters e.g. volcanoes and earthquakes.
2. Man-made disasters; Examples – war, bomb blasts, chemical leaks, etc.
Tourism
Tourism comprises the activities of persons travelling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes not related to the exercise of an activity remunerated from within the place visited.
Tourism has proven to be a pillar of economic development for many regions around the world. In 2003, tourism was the largest business sector in the world economy, employing 200 million people, generating 3.6 trillion in economic activity and accounting for 1 in every 12 or 8% of jobs worldwide.
THE VULNERABLE NATURE OF THE TOURISM INDUSTRY TO DIFFERENT DISASTER TRIGGERS
The vulnerability of tourism to risk, crisis and disaster has long been evident (Sharpley, 2005). In fact, the historical record is full of cases in which the tourism industry has been affected by a range of disasters each with different disaster triggers, whether they are:
1. Natural
2. Biological
3. Man-made
4. Technological
Each of these disaster triggers has affected tourism over the years and we have several notable examples that we can call to mind:
Disaster
A disaster is a serious disruption of the functioning of a community or a society causing widespread human, material, economic or environmental losses which exceed the ability of the affected community or society to cope using its own resources.
Hence it can be defined as a crisis situation causing wide spread damage which far exceeds our ability to recover. Thus, by definition, there cannot be a perfect ideal system that prevents damage, because then it would not be a disaster. It has to suffocate our ability to recover. Only then it can be called as disaster.
Disasters are mainly of 2 broad types,
1. Natural disasters; include climatic disasters e.g. hurricanes, floods & droughts; and geological disasters e.g. volcanoes and earthquakes.
2. Man-made disasters; Examples – war, bomb blasts, chemical leaks, etc.
Tourism
Tourism comprises the activities of persons travelling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes not related to the exercise of an activity remunerated from within the place visited.
Tourism has proven to be a pillar of economic development for many regions around the world. In 2003, tourism was the largest business sector in the world economy, employing 200 million people, generating 3.6 trillion in economic activity and accounting for 1 in every 12 or 8% of jobs worldwide.
THE VULNERABLE NATURE OF THE TOURISM INDUSTRY TO DIFFERENT DISASTER TRIGGERS
The vulnerability of tourism to risk, crisis and disaster has long been evident (Sharpley, 2005). In fact, the historical record is full of cases in which the tourism industry has been affected by a range of disasters each with different disaster triggers, whether they are:
1. Natural
2. Biological
3. Man-made
4. Technological
Each of these disaster triggers has affected tourism over the years and we have several notable examples that we can call to mind: